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Sad Waltz
Sad Waltz, H. 19,'' ''is a 2015 short film written and directed by Ryan Alexander Huang. Created for a University of Minnesota photography class and paying homage to Chris Marker's 1962 film La Jetée, Sad Waltz ''is composed entirely of still photographs set to the incidental music ''Valse triste, ''Op. 44 No. 1 by Jean Sibelius. It has been described by Huang as a "pictorial tone poem." The film stars Noah Causey and Maureen Gleason and was shot entirely on the University of Minnesota campus. Plot summary ''"A man detached from the realities of the world begins to see visions of his lost love. As his hallucinations grow more vivid, the line between memory and fantasy blurs - culminating in a frenetic dance with death." '' Plot synopsis A man (Noah Causey) is seen wandering alone on a large footbridge. He is carrying what appears to be an announcement for a memorial service with a picture of the deceased. He looks down over the railing into the frozen river below, but is distracted by the sight of a woman (Maureen Gleason) leaning on the railing some distance away. As he walks closer, he recognizes her as the woman on the memorial service announcement and approaches. They embrace and talk excitedly; he appears to be awed by her presence. As they continue talking, he begins to notice an increasing distance inexplicably growing between them. He calls out to her, but she calmly looks back without responding. As the distance continues to widen, he eventually realizes that he is alone on the bridge once more. Time passes. The man visits a natural history museum and finds the woman there. He is now seen wearing a tuxedo, and she wears a flowing gown. They begin to dance. As they waltz down the hallways of the museum, we simultaneously see images of them perusing the exhibits and looking at the dioramas in their regular clothing. The waltz begins to build pace. While the woman still looks untroubled, the man grows increasingly disturbed by her appearance. She suddenly disappears from his arms, and he chases after her through the hallways. The woman is always out of his reach. Back on the footbridge, the man is seen writhing on the ground with his hands covering his face. We see images flash past his mind in quick succession: memories of walking with the woman through the museum, hallucinations of seeing her on the bridge, and numerous shots of the long-dead animals inside the museum displays. The frenzied stream of consciousness is suddenly extinguished as the music ends abruptly. The man is seen in the distance as he gradually walks toward the railing of the bridge. He reaches the railing, looks down into the water, and disappears. References to other works ''Sad Waltz ''contains numerous references to the Chris Marker film ''La Jetée, fragments of the Edgar Allan Poe poem Beloved Physician, ''and George Orwell's dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four. '' ''La Jetée * The first and last scenes on the Washington Avenue bridge are reminiscent of the eponymous pier at Paris Orly Airport that appears at the beginning and end of La Jetée. * Both male protagonists in La Jetée ''and ''Sad Waltz ''wear military jackets throughout the course of the film. * The woman in ''Sad Waltz ''is identified as Helen Orly on the memorial announcement. The surname pays homage again to the pier at Orly, while the given name is used in honor of Hélène Châtelain, who played the woman in' '''La Jetée. '' * The scenes in the museum were shot inside the historic Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus. The setting directly parallels the iconic scene in ''La Jetée ''in which the man and woman explore the French National Museum of Natural History (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle). * The last shot in the frenzied photo montage near the climax of the film (in which the man watches the woman as she holds her hair) is staged directly from a similar shot in ''La Jetée's museum scene. Beloved Physician * The surviving stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe's poem are seen throughout the film on the memorial announcement. Each set is representational of the man's various stages of grief: ** The pulse beats ten and intermits; God shield the soul that ne’er forgets. ** The pulse beats ten and intermits; God guide the soul that ne’er forgets. ** So tired, so weary, The soft head bows, the sweet eyes close, The faithful heart yields to repose. Nineteen Eighty-Four Minor references to Orwell's novel are made to echo the dystopian world seen in ''La Jetée. ''Helen Orly's year of death is listed as 1984 on the memorial announcement. The location of the memorial service is St. Clement's Church, the same church featured in the "Oranges and Lemons" nursery rhyme that appears in ''Nineteen Eighty-Four. '' Category:Films